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Seminole voters punctuated the end of the James Billie era Monday by returning to the tribal council three of the men who ousted Billie from the chairman's position he held for 24 years.
Elected to succeed Billie as tribal chairman was Mitchell Cypress, a cattle rancher who became acting chairman after Billie was suspended from his $312,000-a-year position two years ago. Cypress captured 55 percent of the vote in a six-candidate race.
Also elected were incumbents Max Osceola and David Cypress. Incumbent John Wayne Huff was defeated by Brighton resident Roger Smith. Also elected to the council was Moses Osceola.
"The political analysts will have to figure it out, but I guess the tribal members voted for these candidates or against James, or maybe both," said Seminole general counsel Jim Shore.
Billie, a tough-talking alligator wrestler and folk singer, won six consecutive elections to the Seminole chairmanship beginning in 1979. Aggressively pursuing the expansion of Seminole gambling halls, Billie guided his tribe to new prosperity.
Today, the tribe operates five casinos, brings in $300-million a year in gambling profits and pays every one of the 3,000 tribal members a dividend of $36,000 annually.
But Billie's administrations were also marked by illegal casino contracts, failed business ventures and a federal investigation into his secret plan to funnel $2.7-million in tribal funds to Belize and Nicaragua to set up an Internet gambling site.
"At the time he came in, I think the tribe needed a tough guy like him to assert the tribe's position," said Shore. "But I think he also forgot to change with the times."
In May 2001, the tribal council cited a sexual harassment complaint against Billie and questions about offshore investments in voting to suspend him indefinitely. The tribe later sued Billie, claiming he was part of a stock manipulation scheme that drained $20-million from the tribal treasury and that he ordered $100,000 in phony sick pay to be paid to a paramour.
In March, the council made Billie's removal permanent, saying he had lied to the tribe, ignored constitutional constraints and acted "as if tribal government were his kingdom."